


Coffee Date

by jokesandbats



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: The Telltale Series (Video Game)
Genre: Declarations Of Love, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, inspired by the episode 3 trailer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2019-02-03 18:24:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12753711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jokesandbats/pseuds/jokesandbats
Summary: Getting involved with criminals wasn’t a smart idea.Or, Bruce's coffee date with John Doe, inspired by the episode 3 trailer.





	Coffee Date

Getting involved with criminals wasn’t a smart idea.

Bruce should have thought it through before infiltrating the Pact. It was the Batman’s nature to get close to the underworld, close enough to know it and anticipate its every move, and that wasn’t Bruce Wayne’s job. Yet there he was, with a leather jacket and a French hat, getting those criminals to like him.

The whole thing was way too dangerous, said a voice in his head that sounded like Alfred’s. Because at the end of the night, Batman just had to remove the batsuit to be done and pretty much untouchable. That was the idea of having a secret identity, no one could actually come after him when he didn’t want them to. But everyone knew where Bruce Wayne lived. And he already lost a friend to his carelessness, he didn’t need the body count to get higher.

His caped alter ego could take care of it. That was why he created him in the first place. The whole undercover operation suddenly seemed extremely silly. Why on Earth would someone like Amanda Waller, with all of her agents who probably trained for this for longer than he had, need a rich boy like Wayne? That didn’t make sense. It wasn’t like he was an exceptional actor or anything. Wayne’s power was his money, and his influence among Gotham’s greatest. Not exactly the profile fit to infiltrate a gang.

But he could see why she made that decision. Whatever he might tell himself, he had a really good advantage for this particular mission.

John Doe liked Bruce Wayne.

Not that many people did, actually. He played the jerk, spoiled, incompetent brat persona pretty well, and he wasn’t meant to be liked. He didn’t mind.

So he was very surprised when Agent Avesta stormed into his office, asking him about that former Arkham patient and person of interest, who had put him down as his emergency contact. He honestly didn’t thought he made such an impression during the three - four if he counted that time they brushed each other’s shoulders in the corridor - times they saw each other.

And yet.

And yet whatever John saw in him that day, he obviously liked it enough to stalk him to his friend’s funeral, to get him a ticket into his little gang.

But John hadn’t been the only one to see through the Bruce Wayne persona. Harvey had, and Selina, and Oswald, and yeah he saw where this was going.

He had no idea what it was about him that criminals found so fascinating. And he couldn’t get Avesta’s words out of his head.

_The criminally ins*ne… you’re drawn to them, aren’t you?_

And maybe he was. But it was just another part of him that he could use to do what needed to be done.

Or so he told himself as he took John with him at a small café, on what was definitely not a date, no matter what Harley was saying.

(But it was better for him if she thought it was a date, and not what this really was: him trying to get John on his side.

After all he would need an ally on the inside. During the attack on the truck Waller had shown herself to be very unreliable, and based on what he knew of them John was the more likely to betray the pact and help him.

And maybe, just maybe, John was growing on him, he was starting to like him in all the ways he shouldn’t, and he would hate to see yet another person he cared about behind bars. Not after Harvey.)

So there they were, sitting at a table, at the same terrasse where he met Selina and Harvey and - _don’t think about that_.

He had a simple black coffee, whereas John ordered a monstrosity of sugar, cream and sprinklings, that came in a big see-through plastic cup.

“This place is so nice, Brucie! Do you come here often? I bet you do, with all of your money you could probably buy it if you wanted to. Thanks for paying for my drink, by the way. You’re so sweet, taking care of me like that,” John babbled and took a loud slurp through the straw.

Bruce took a sip of his coffee, the cup conveniently hiding his smile. “I don’t usually have the time to drive all the way here just to enjoy a coffee.”

“Aw, but you made the time for me! You’re adorable.”

Bruce put his cup on the table, keeping his hands around it.

“John,” he started, looking up to meet John’s eyes. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“So did I! What a coincidence, I can’t believe it.” John was almost giggling with excitement. “Who goes first?”

Bruce hesitated for a split second. “You.”

“Alright. Well, for a few days I’ve started to feel differently.” John’s eyes were earnest, and Bruce felt himself drawn to them once again, drawn to the fire he could see dormant behind them. “It’s like I can feel someone, a few layers deep, pacing, like an animal in a cage. Something that wants to get free, that wants everyone to know…”

Bruce felt his stomach knot. He always knew there was something more, something deeper, darker, to the innocent face, but he didn’t expect it to come out so soon. “Yeah?”

“I’m in love with you.”

Maybe Bruce heard that wrong. “What?”

“Well, what you told me in that alley got me thinking, and, I thought I had a thing for Harley at the time, but I don’t know, that was just… I admire her, really, she is amazing, but that’s not love, not really, not like what I feel for… you. And with what she said, in the car, I started to think that maybe, maybe -” John paused, searching for words - “maybe we could be something. You and me.”

Well.

It wasn’t where Bruce thought this would go.

Saying that he didn’t have a thing for John would be lying to himself. Or else he wouldn’t have said the things he said, to John, to Harley. He had been pretty transparent about it.

And yet he could hardly believe what John was saying. He didn’t expect whatever he was feeling for John to be reciprocated. Which was why he didn’t answer immediately.

John’s smile fell off his face.

“I’m sorry I assumed,” he said, worryingly biting his lower lip. “I just, I thought, you know what, nevermind. Forget I said anything”

He looked like he was about to punch himself in the face. And Bruce’s heart broke.

“No, no, you were right. You were right, you took me by surprise, that’s all.”

John looked up, his devastated expression growing into something happier, something more hopeful. “You really mean that?”

“Of course I do. I like you, John.”

“I am so relieved,” John laughed. “Brucie, you don’t know how many times I wished you’d say that. I’m so happy I could kiss you.”

“Why don’t you then?”

John stood up, his chair falling behind him. “I can?”

Bruce held back a chuckle. “Absolutely.”

John almost ran to him, grabbing his face in his hands, and bending to kiss his lips. It was soft, almost chaste, and Bruce stood up, putting his arms around John’s shoulders, one hand in his hair, deepening the kiss, letting him bite his lower lip, drawing a small moan out of him.

After what felt like an eternity of pure bliss, John broke the kiss, staring at Bruce in the eyes, with the softest smile Bruce had ever seen. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“You know what, that can wait.”


End file.
